be excellent to each other, and party on dudes!

Initially, I saw a foine person and swiped right on Tinder (as you do), but on Kat’s profile it said that they were taking a break from the app for the time being and would be back in the spring. I, being a go-getter, messaged them and said “I guess I’ll see you in the spring!” Little did I know Kat would be working at the same place as me less than a month later. In December of 2018, Kat was hired at Chewy. I definitely noticed. I came in early every day because I knew Kat took their lunch about half an hour before the start of my shift. I also (not so subtly) attempted to make eye contact with them in the break room as I put away my lunch box... every day. In January (waaaay before spring) I got a message from Kat. “Hey, don’t we work together?” Of course I responded eagerly that we did. Kat replied “That’s great! I’m looking for more work friends!” 🙃 Obviously everything turned out alright but that’s the story of how I was friend-zoned within minutes of chatting for the first time with my future spouse.

The most common deathbed regrets usually are something along the lines of, "I wish I'd lived the life I wanted, not the one that others expected of me," or, "I wish I'd kept in touch with childhood friends," or, "If I only had the courage to quit my office job and pursue fulltime sea shell googly eye hot-gluing for tourists on the beach in Florida." I'll tell you one of mine: I didn't kiss Sab on our first date! After our first date, Sab drove me home and it was raining. When they offered to walk me to my door, I hesitated - stuck in a Southern politeness loop. On one hand, I wanted to be walked to the door, to be wooed. On the other hand, it was raining and it was not a short walk. I wish I'd thought of all the cool "Notebook"-esque possibilities! Being walked to the door in the rain. Giggling because we were trying to stay under the same umbrella. Adorable stuff. But things happen as they are meant to. We had our second date at a local restaurant and nearly closed the place down again because we were talking non-stop. As we were walking back to my car to give Sab a lift to theirs (parking spots in the Highlands are few and far between), I knew I could not end the night without a kiss. I'd been thinking about it all week, counting down the days. I felt a giddy anxiousness rise in my throat as I climbed into the driver's seat. Sab hopped into the passenger seat, smiling expectantly at me. I remember asking, "Can I kiss you?" And Sab saying, "Yes." As we leaned in, the car lurched backwards just as lips were about to touch lips! In all my excitement, I forgot to put the car in park and we had rolled backwards. I slammed my foot on the break. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? Take two. I put the car in park. Safety first. We kissed and it was electric, wonderful and all of the things that they write songs about. Before I could savor the moment too much, Sab leapt out of the car and screamed. At first I was alarmed but it was the good kind of screaming!

Kat & I had the brilliant idea of making homemade vegan doughnuts! We were so excited we mapped out a whole Sunday morning to bring our dream to life. I'd looked up a recipe & we'd decided it looked pretty delicious, so we got started! Everything was going very smoothly. We'd gotten our dough made & used various circular objects to cut them into the perfect li'l doughnuts. It was time to heat up the oil so we could get a-fryin'! I set up the pot with the oil & turned the heat on to let it get bubbling. Kat said they had to go to the bathroom & I said that's fine & sat down on a chair in our living room for a moment. When Kat got out of the bathroom, we went back over to the pot & something seemed... not right. Kat said the pot smelled kind of weird, maybe even... smoky. Little did we know, we had just started a grease fire. Classic Sab + Kat shenanigans. Our pets were being their normal selves: Onion was basically starting to vomit on the rug (before there were even any flames?) & Burl was literally just vibing on the couch. Kat said, "WHAT DO WE DO?" & I said, "... I feel like call 911?" & so we did. I put the lid on the pot & took it off the burner as I turned it off, calmly put Burl in his harness, & asked Kat to go get Onion's carrier. All the while Kat is PANICKING on the phone with the operator. Once everyone was ready we took them out to the car & sat in there until the fire department came & put the fire out. Was it stressful? Sure. Is Kat cool under pressure? Absolutely not. Were all of our neighbors poking their heads out of the door to see what kind of commotion we had caused this time? You bet. Life doesn't always throw easy days your way. This was not the first or the worst obstacle life had ever thrown at Kat & I and it certainly wouldn't be the last, but that day I realized I'd never want to go through mishaps, hardships, or haphazard cooking disasters with anyone but this goofy, panicky mess. I proposed just a few months later!